Why Prison Price Gouging Hurts Us All

The Article: by Mary Sanchez in The National Memo.

The Text: For two decades now, politicians and public scolds have sold America on the idea of a sterner penal system. Zero tolerance, three strikes and you’re out, supermax prisons and legions of young men who have done time — these are the hallmarks of our age.

What’s hidden from view is that incarcerating people is big business in America. The corrections industry is powerful, and it often exemplifies the worst aspects of monopoly capitalism.

Just ask Ulandis Forte. He is a construction worker in the Washington, D.C. area, and he is in the forefront of a fight to right an injustice few of us are aware of: the exorbitant rates charged to families who accept phone calls from incarcerated loved ones. A 15-minute call from an inmate can cost nearly $20. That has nothing to do with any special technical or logistical difficulties of providing the service. It’s purely a matter of what prison operators can get away with charging. Families either pay the high fees, which can total hundreds of dollars a month, or forego the chance to stay in touch.

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Vicky Soto, 2012’s Person Of The Year

Miss Soto was teaching her little angels when the shooting started.

A gunfire burst down the hall. Shouts. Two more bursts. Miss Soto didn’t know what was going on, but she knew there wasn’t any time. So she told the kids they were going to play a game. She told the kids to hide in the closet, cupboards, cabinets, anything they could fit in. She gave the kids coloring books, colored pencils, anything to keep them quiet.

Wait for the good guys, they are coming. Show me your smile! Miss Soto whispered to her little angels as the footsteps came closer.

The kids aren’t here, Miss Soto told the madman with guns. They’re in the gym.

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A Failed Experiment

The Article: A Failed Experiment by Nicholas Kristof in The New York Times.

The Text: In upper-middle-class suburbs on the East Coast, the newest must-have isn’t a $7,500 Sub-Zero refrigerator. It’s a standby generator that automatically flips on backup power to an entire house when the electrical grid goes out.

(A month ago, I would have written more snarkily about residential generators. But then we lost power for 12 days after Sandy — and that was our third extended power outage in four years. Now I’m feeling less snarky than jealous!)

More broadly, the lust for generators is a reflection of our antiquated electrical grid and failure to address climate change. The American Society of Civil Engineers gave our grid, prone to bottlenecks and blackouts, a grade of D+ in 2009.

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How To REALLY “Fix The Debt”

So debt = aggregate deficit. Deficit = Difference between spending and revenue. Revenue is gained primarily by taxes. Methinks paying a negative rate in taxes is not really going to solve the revenue, deficit and therefore debt problem.

As Sea Levels Rise, Coastal Cities Beware

The Article: Coastal cities in danger as sea levels rise faster than expected in The Raw Story.

The Text: Sea-level rise is occurring much faster than scientists expected – exposing millions more Americans to the destructive floods produced by future Sandy-like storms, new research suggests.

Satellite measurements over the last two decades found global sea levels rising 60% faster than the computer projections issued only a few years ago by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The faster sea-level rise means the authorities will have to take even more ambitious measures to protect low-lying population centres – such as New York City, Los Angeles or Jacksonville, Florida – or risk exposing millions more people to a destructive combination of storm surges on top of sea-level rise, scientists said.

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